Startup Life
Technology. Startups. Venture Capital. My Life.
Posts tagged entrepreneur
Global VC Blog Directory
Jun 2nd
Attention all entrepreneurs and start-ups!
A comprehensive list of VC-authored blogs have been compiled by Larry Cheng, a Boston-based VC. The list was ranked by number of Google Reader Subscribers as of May 2009.
If you’re getting serious about pitching for venture dollars, I suggest that you start subscribing to some of these blogs (just add them to your Viigo feeds).
It’s important for entrepreneurs to know about a number of things before pitching for dollars:
1. Understand the psychology of VCs
2. Understand the business models of VCs
3. Understand how to pitch VCs
4. Understand how NOT to pitch VCs
5. Understand WHEN to pitch VCs
6. Pitch VCs with a focus in your business sector
7. Don’t pitch VCs with your competitors already in their portfolios
8. Know your pitch cold
9. Spend a few extra minutes on the slide deck
10. Know the risks associated with your business (model) and suggest mitigating strategies
11. The list goes on…
Many of the blogs listed in the index will give you lots of tips in these areas. Happy reading!
Top Social Networks for Entrepreneurs
Apr 27th
I subscribe to this outstanding weekly email from The Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship. This week’s email discussed a recent post on Mashable, that highlighted the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs.
In summary, these sites will help businesses/entrepreneurs to find other entrepreneurs, potential customers, or partners.
Here is the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs:
1. Entrepreneur Connect
2. Partner Up
3. Startup Nation
4. Linked In
5. Biznik
6. Perfect Business
7. Go BIG Network
8. Cofoundr
9. The Funded
10. Young Entrepreneur
I’m doing my best to get connected, and maintain profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter. As time permits, I am going to explore each of these sites. Feel free to extend an invite to link up.
All-nighters, Caffeine and Better Colons?
Mar 14th
For all you busy finance geeks, and entrepreneurs working 80+ hour weeks buzzing on caffeine from your last quad-americano from Starbucks, there’s a little bit of good news for you!
A recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that brewed coffee contains soluble fiber which aids in digestion, helps the body absorb nutrients, and fight cholesterol. An article from Scientific American gives some interesting statistics and insight:
According to the National Coffee Association, 82 percent of adults in the U.S. drink an average of 3.2 cups of java every day. A traditional eight-ounce (237-milliliter) cup of coffee could contain as much as 1.5 grams of fiber and 3.2 cups nearly five grams of fiber. But, of course, a “cup” is relative these days. A “grande” (medium size) cup at Starbucks, for instance, is 473 milliliters (or 16 ounces) and could pack as much as three grams of fiber, about the same as a raw apple and 20 percent or more of the average American’s daily intake.
But that does not mean you should drink coffee in lieu of veggies and whole grains to up your fiber intake, says ADA spokesperson Katherine Tallmadge. “There are so many other sources of fiber [that are healthier]. Should you drink tons of coffee to get those benefits? No,” she says, noting that coffee also contains caffeine—around 100 milligrams per cup. It is far better, she says, to get fiber from a variety of foods that do not contain caffeine and are also packed with other healthy compounds, such as protein and vitamins. “It’s the whole diet that’s important,” Tallmadge says, adding that she would not recommend more than two cups of coffee a day.
So there you have it. You can have your coffee and digest better too.
Video Games, Web 2.0, Upcoming Tech!
Mar 12th
There are countless articles on the web talking about Second Life and the announcement of PlayStation Home, the new game for the Sony PlayStation 3 that allows you to put a player in Sony’s virtual world and interact within a next-generation online community. As Sony describes, it is going to be a “Free Download to Allow Broad User Interaction in Highly Detailed Community Environment; Opens Door to User-Created Content, Collaboration and Commerce”.
There is a more detailed description of the comparison and evolving world of gaming here, if you are interested.
It looks like we’re seeing a migration of Web 2.0 into Gaming 2.0. It’s going to be interesting to see what other video games are going to be released in the upcoming years that incorporate user-generated content and community-oriented structures. Which game is going to be the next blockbuster? Could gaming start to include website links and content? How integrated could these video games become with the web? Is it possible that we might see commerce systems integrated into video games, such as seen in Second Life? Who wants to guess the first day we start to see Google AdWords on the side of a video game? Or, how about a user in a gaming community advertising Amazon products in association with what attributes or “knowledge” your virtual character has developed. My guess: December 14th, 2008 at 8:37 am Eastern Standard Tiem. Random? Maybe. What do you think?
I just found a really cool innovation coming to the gaming world, and perhaps online shopping too! Researchers in Germany developed a 3D animation technique that allows a high-resolution scan of a person to be super-imposed onto another person’s or character’s movements. This technology was originally developed for use in 3D video, but it may be possible to get yourself scanned somewhere and use the generated file to integrate your own 3D scan into your own virtual world video games. Too limiting? Maybe.
Okay, how about this … online clothes shopping!
The problem with shopping for clothes online is that it is too hard to imagine how clothes are going to fit. Solution: using this 3D technology, you can use your 3D scanned shape to virually “see” these clothes on YOUR frame. (and if you’re entrepreneurial and decide that you want to develop this idea, all I ask is for an honourable mention , and a few shares of the company if you’re feeling generous…)